Man to be sentenced for stabbing father to death on doorstep

A man with a history of mental illness is due to be sentenced for stabbing a father-of-three to death on his doorstep.

By Aislinn Simpson

11:44PM BST 20 Oct 2008

David Brown walked calmly up to Christian Puttock, 35, a Merchant Navy seaman as he waited for his two sons to return home from school in Clevedon, Somerset.

He plunged a five-inch knife into his chest in front of a neighbour before walking away.

Mr Puttock and his wife Lisa were due to celebrate her 34th birthday on the night of the attack in February.

The couple had their third child, Aimee, 17 days before the attack, and were weeks away from emigrating to Australia where Mr Puttock had got a new job.

One of their neighbours, Jonathan Hayter, 38, fought to save Mr Puttock after witnessing the assault.

He said shortly afterwards: "I dragged Christian into the kitchen, closed the door to stop the children from seeing what was going on and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I tried my best but it didn't seem to work. He was dying in my arms. It was just unbelievable.

"It was only one small wound but it was impossible to stop it. Chris couldn't talk at this point, he just kept looking at me, as if he was pleading with me to save him. That's the last image I have of him. He didn't deserve to die.''

He added: "It was a completely mindless and random attack. The guy literally walked up to us when we were waiting for the kids to come home from school and then stabbed Chris.

"He didn't say anything but just stared at us. He wasn't ranting or raving. He was completely vacant, expressionless even. He then just walked off."

Brown, 34, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Bristol Crown Court in August. The case was adjourned for psychiatric reports.

Robert Duval, prosecuting, said he suffered from "an abnormality of the mind which in the opinion of doctors would have impaired his responsibility for the act".